EU roses sent mainly to Russia and Switzerland

The EU is a net importer of one of Valentine's day symbols – fresh cut roses. In the first 10 months of 2017, the EU exported roses worth €62 million to non-EU countries, and imported ten times more — 624 million — from outside the EU.

The Netherlands: main exporter
The Netherlands (roses worth €43 million exported to non-EU countries in the first 10 months of 2017, or 70% of the total extra-EU exports of roses) was the top EU exporter of roses. It was followed at a distance by Lithuania (€7 million, 11%), Germany (over €5 million, 8%) and Latvia (below €5 million, 7%).

EU's roses sent mainly to Russia and Switzerland
When exporting to non-EU countries (€62 million in the period January-October 2017), EU roses were sent primarily to Russia (€28 million, or 45% of the total extra-EU exports of roses) and Switzerland (€20 million, 31%), ahead of Norway (€4 million, 6%) and Belarus (€3 million, 5%).

The Netherlands: main importer
The Netherlands (roses worth €478 million imported from non-EU countries in January-October 2017, or 77% of the total EU imports of roses) was also the top importer of fresh cut roses from outside the EU. Other major importers were the United Kingdom (€60 million, 10%), Germany (€35 million, 6%) and Spain (€30 million, 5%).

Half of EU's imports of roses come from Kenya
In the first 10 months of 2017, Member States imported roses worth €624 million from non-EU countries. Half of these imports originated from Kenya (€317 million, 51%). The next largest shares of imports from non-EU countries were from Ethiopia (€126 million, 20%) and Ecuador (€108 million, 17%), followed by Colombia (€30 million, 5%) and Uganda (€23 million, 4%).

Source: Eurostat